Summer Olympics = Huge Disaster?

So, I'm already super psyched for the Olympics. But, as the title of this post should tell you, it's time for alarmist prognostication. I sure hope this isn't the case, but there really are way too many ways in which the Olympics Games in Beijing could go horribly wrong. Our friends at Slate (which I really don't know anything at all about them, but WithLeather.com hates them, so I probably do to - it's really quite taxing coming up with opinions on my own) have compiled a list of possible disasters that's worth a read. Having been to Beijing, I can vouch for several of them, namely the air pollution (which immediately burns your lungs from the second you step off the plane) and the food (which immediately burns your insides from the second you eat it). I read a while back about how the US was putting a great deal of effort into transporting clean beef, chicken and pork there to prepare for our athletes, but come to find out, outside food isn't being allowed. I hope the food there doesn't do to the athletes what it did to me or - insert awkward bathroom joke here. Of course, the interweb has allowed people with a little creativity and/or Photoshop (mostly the latter) to create images of doom and gloom. Some are pretty funny - like this one. Or this one. Or even less subtle, this one. But reading all of this about the Chinese government diverting water to Beijing and shutting down construction projects, not to mention kicking half of the cars off the streets to reduce pollution, I can't help but think about how much it would suck be subject to the whims of a government like that. And how much effort they're putting into all of this just to look like they're not a third world country anymore, which they aren't - although I did see a little girl poop in the street and then run to her waiting mother when I was there. Hopefully, none of these potential disaster will occur, and the games will go off without a hitch. My advice to American athletes: Go for the gold and don't eat or drink anything. Or breathe.